There were 551 snatch thefts recorded between January and early this month in Johor, and 178 people arrested in connection with the cases.

This is comparable to the 560 snatch thefts recorded during the same period last year.

But Johor recorded an overall 11 per cent decline in crime rate between January and August, compared to the same period last year.

Currently, the police to residents ratio in Johor is one officer to 580 people, compared to the national target of one officer to 250 people.

Mr Mohd Mokhtar said that a 24-hour operations room had been set up at the Johor police headquarters to monitor developments.

All heads of department and district police chiefs had been instructed to adopt strategic planning to prevent crime.

Being more vigilant

Police are also enlisting the help of the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) and the Civil Defence Department to strengthen enforcement.

He said: "The senior police personnel in charge will look at feedback from the public and analyse every police success and weaknesses at the hotspots."

Mr Mohd Mokhtar also warned criminals that the announcement of these 15 areas does not mean police will neglect other areas.

He told China Press that committing a crime is a foolish act and if criminals think that they can move out of these 15 places to other areas to continue to commit crimes, that would be even more foolish.

He added that residents of these 15 places should not be worried that their areas have been named on the list, and he is confident that police will be able to strategise well to reduce the crime rates.